Combined support and safety device for overhead conductors



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet '1.

R. A. MORGAN, Jr. COMBINED SUPPORT AND SAFETY DEVICE FOR OVERHEADGONDUGTORS.

No. 417,497. Patented Dee. 17 1889 vi, PETERS. Flmln-Ulhugmphcr.Washinglom n. c.

'(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. R. A. MORGAN, Jr. COMBINED SUPPORT ANDSAFETY DEVICE FOR OVERHEAD GONDUGTORS.

No. 417,497. Patented Dec. 17, 1889.

N. PETERS. Plmlniillmgmphnr, Washinglun, 0, C4

pended above the car. As .now commonly serious results.

liability of such accidents, and I accomplish vice, which is renderedoperative when the wire forms one half of the electric circuit,

COMBINED SUPPORT AND SAFETY D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT A. MORGAN, JR., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS;

EVICE FOR OVERHEAD CONDUCTORS.

. SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 417,497, datedDecember 17, 18 89.

Application filed August 2'7, 1889 Serial No. 322,128, (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. MORGAN, J r., of Boston, county ofSuffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in aCombined Support and Safety Device for Overhead Conductors, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specification,like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to electric circuits in which an overhead Wire orconductor forms one part of the circuit and the ground forms the otherpart thereof,'and has for its object to provide the overhead conductorwith preferably a number of safety devices, as will be described,wherebythe current maybe cut off from the ground in case the said wi re becomesbroken or is cut.

My invention is especially applicable to electric railways of that classin which the current is taken from a trolley Wire susconstructed andknown to me, thetrolleythe ground forming the other half, and if thetrolley-wire becomes broken or is cut as, for instance, in case offirethe broken ends of the said wire might fall in contact with a personor animal and complete a short circuit to the ground through .the saidperson or animal, whioh might be attended with It is the object of-thisinvention to obviate my object, as herein shown, by means of a combinedtrolley-wire support and safety detrolley-wire is cut or broken eitherto completely cut the trolley-Wire out'of circuit or to shunt thecurrent passing over the trolleywire.

My invention therefore consists in the combination, with an overheadconductor forming part of a ground-circuit and made of independentsections, of a safety device or cutout interposed between adjacentsections, whereby the current is cutoff from the ground through a brokensection, substantially as will be described.

Other features of my invention will be pointed out in the claims at theend of this specification.

Figurel is a side elevation of atrolley-wire support and safety deviceembodying my invention, it being shown in its normal position tocomplete the circuit. Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing thetrolley-support in position to cutoff the current'from the ground; Fig.3, an under side view of the trolley-wire support shown in Fig. 1; Fig.4, a transverse section of the trolley-Wire support on line x m, Fig. 1;Fig. 5, a transverse section on line y y, Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a detail to bereferred to; Figs. 7, S, 9, and 10, details to be referred to; Figs. 11and 12, modifications to be referred to; Figs. 13 and 14, details ofmodified forms of apparatus.

My improved support and safety device consists, as herein shown in Fig.1, of two arms or sections a a, preferably provided with enlargements ordisks a 0, which are loosely mounted, as shown, on a sleeve a ofinsulating material, into which is fitted a secondsleeve a which may beof metal. The sleeve a is provided with a collar a (see Fig. 4,) and thesleeve (i is also provided with a flange a between which and the collara is located a spiral spring a Each arm a a, and its disk a a ispreferably made of metal, and the disks a 'a on their inner side areprovided withinsulation 1), preferably pieces of hard rubber, secured tothe disks on opposite sides of a central metallic or conducting portion2, forming one contact member of'the cut-out or safety device. The disksa a are mounted on the sleeve a so that their arms a a extend inopposite directions, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and between the saiddisks may, and preferably will be, inter posed'an independent ring ordisk I), preferably of metal or other conducting material.

The ring 'or disk I) is provided, as herein shown, on its opposite sides'or faces with insulation 12 which may be pleces of hard rubber, mica,or other usual insulating mate.

rial, it being shown in Fig. 7 as applied to the disk or ring b onopposite sides of a central exposed or uncovered portion 3, forming theco-operating contact member of the support or safety device. The disks aa and intermediate ring I) are secured on the sleeve a", as shown inFig. 4, by means of a nut I), screwed upon the sleeve a, a washer l)",of insulating material, being interposed between the said nut and disk aand the inner faces of the disks a a are kept in contact with the ringI) by the spring a". The ring I), as herein shown, has secured to it athreaded post 0, upon which is placed a curved shield or guard 0,preferably of wood or insulating material, which is made of sufiicientwidth to cover the disks a a and ring Z) and protect them from rain,dirt, &c. The shield or guard c is provided with an upright portion 0having bent about it, as herein shown, one end of springs c 0 extendedout over the arms a a, and having their outer ends fastened to shoes 00, adapted to slide upon the arms a a. The springs c c are separated bywashers c of insulating material, and covered by a guard 0 (shown as aninverted-trough-shaped ban) the said guard being secured on the upright0 as shown, by a washer c and a nut c. The arms a a have secured to themthe trolley-wire (7, which, as represented in Fig. 1, is made insections, (marked 0 7,) the said sections being fastened to the arms aa, as herein shown, by screws e The trolleywire support is suspended inthe air by a span wire or rod fl, secured to posts (1 at opposite sidesof the roadway, and to avoid wear upon the parts of the support thesleeve (0'' is fitted upon a sleeve (7 having its opposite ends extendedinto a socket or recess in hubs d", secured on the span-wire byset-screw (7 Each arm (I a is preferably made thicker, as at 5, (seeFig. 3,) to obviate heating of the metal arm at that point.

In operation the current normally passes from one section of thetrolley-wire, as G, to another section, as 7, through the arm a,contact'members 2 3, and arm a. If by accident or otherwise a section,as 7, of the trolleywire becomes broken, cut, or otherwise disconnected,the said section of wire will face toward the ground, and the arm (1.,being thus left unsupported,will be quickly turned by the spring 0 fromits horizontal position (shown in Fig. 1) to substantially the positionshown in Fig. 2. As the arm 0' drops down, the contact-member 2 of thedisk a is removed from contact with the member 3 of the ring I) andbrought into contact with the insulation, thus breaking the circuit atthis cut-out, so that if the loose trolley-wire section should come incontact with a person or animal, or, it may be, wit-l1 combustiblematerial, no injurious effects would result.

In order to prevent the arm a from being raised again after it hasfallen, I have provided a locking device for the said arm, it beingherein shown as a projection (Z 011 each side or face of the ring 1),which co-operates with a depression or recess 01 (see Fig. 8) in eachdisk a a The projection (Z may be made as a fiat metal spring, or it maybe formed by upsetting a part of the insulation.

When the wire is cut or becomes broken, the recess 01 on the disk (t3 isbrought into line with the projection (1 and the latter springs into thesaid recess. The fallen arm. is thus locked and cannot be again raisedto complete the circuit until the spring projection is positivelyunlocked.

I have shown and described my safety device as constructed so as to cutout the circuit; but I do not desire to limit myself in this respect, asthe said device maybe employed to cut out the broken wire from theground and yet shunt the circuit around the .break in the wire. To accomlish this result each disk (1 a may have secured to or forming part ofit an additional strip or piece of metal 0, situated substantially atright angles to the conducting-strip 2, so that when the said disk ispartially revolved at the break ing of the wire the strip or metal piece0 is brought in cont-act with the contact member 3 of the ring I), asindicated by dotted lines, Fig. 13. The metal strip 0 may be joined bya' flexible connection, as a Wire 0, to a conductor 0 which is hereinshown as carried down through the hollow post 0 The conductor 0 may beconnected with the ground, or it may be connected to a similar conductorin an adjacent post.

I have herein described my invention as applied to trolley-wires; but itis evident it may be used equally well as a support for heavypower-wires forming part of a groundcircuit. 50, also, I do not desireto limit my invention to the particular construction shown, as it may bevariously modified to adapt it to different constructions, and while Imay prefer to employ the ring I1, it is evident the said ring may beomitted and the two disks o (1) brought in contact with. each other.

I have herein described the disks (6 a as made of metal and providedwith insulation 1); but it is evident that the said disks maybe made ofinsulating material and provided. with metal strips to formcontact-surfaces.

I have herein shown springs c c to move the arms a a quickly when thewire is broken, so that the circuit will be broken at the cutout orsafety before it is completed by the broken section of wire coming incontact with the ground; but I do not desire to limit myself to the useof springs, as it is evident the arms c a may be weighted at their outerends.

I prefer to construct the cut-out or safety device substantially asshown in Fig. 1; but I do not desire to limit myself to this form ofcut-out, as it may be made in other ways for instance, as shown in Fig.11, wherein a rack-bar his provided with collars h at its opposite ends,located in boxes or cylinders h 7L3, the said collars being acted uponby a normally-compressed spring h. The opposite ends of the rack-bar hare extended out through the boxes 7L2 h and have secured to them theends of adjacent sections of the trolley or overhead wire. The rack-barh IIO ' toothed periphery, and the meshes with and rotates a diskkhaving a disk k may be provided with a contactsurface which co-opcrateswith a like contact-surface on a like disk 72 firmly supported by arms71 secured to the bar h connecting the boxes 72/ h the disk 7L7 beingalso provided with a toothed periphery meshing with a rack-bar similarto the rack-bar h, and not herein shown.

The operation of the device is as follows, viz: As soon as a section ofwire is broken the spring h moves the rack-bar and rotates the disk hsufficient to break the circuit, as above described. Y

I claim- 1. The combination, with an overhead conductor forming part ofa ground-circuit and made of independent sections, of a safety device orcut-out interposed between adjacent sections, whereby the current is cutoff from the ground through a broken section, sub stantially asdescribed.

2. The combination, with an overhead conductor forming part of aground-circuit, of a combined support and safety device consisting oftwo arms or sections provided with contact-surfaces, the said arms beingmovable one with relation to the other, whereby the saidcontact-surfaces may be disconnected when the overhead conductor isbroken, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with a span-wire d,

of a combined support and safety device consisting of arms pivotallysupported by said wire and provided with contact-surfaces, and atrolley-wire composed of sections, as 6 7, secured to said arms,substantially as described.

4:. The'combination, with an overhead eonductor forming part of aground-circuit, of a combined support and safety device consisting oftwo arms or sections provided with contact-surfaces, the said arms beingmovable one with relation to the other, whereby the saidcontact-surfaces may be disconnected when the overhead conductor isbroken, and a looking device for said arms, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with an overhead conductor forming partof aground-circuit, of a combined support and safety device consisting oftwo arms or sections provided with contact-surfaces, the said arms beingmovable one with relation to the other, whereby the saidcontact-surfaces may be. disconnected when the overhead conductorjsbroken, and springs to act on said arms, substantially as and for thepurpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

- ROBERT A. MORGAN, JR.

lVitnesses:

JAs. H. CHURCHILL, FREDERICK L. EMERY.

